NAV Coin’s Anonymous ‘NAVTech’ Network Is Online

When last we covered NAV Coin, they were in the midst of some massive upgrades. Instead of forking their blockchain, however, they decided to start a new one, which recorded the old balances in its genesis block.

Despite warnings, exchanges such as Poloniex were slow to switch over, resulting in unprecedented arbitrage opportunities. Many speculators were probably disappointed when the new NAV tokens (tradeable on Bittrex at the time) didn’t rise to Poloniex prices upon upgrade, but the price spiked again at the beginning of August and then tripled in September.

So, what’s driving these massive spikes? Since NAV Coin’s most prized attribute is the anonymity it provides, it was likely some players in the dark net who had been following NAV’s development. They caused price explosions in coins like Monero and ZCash, and might be hoping that NAV will earn similar support from dark net markets.

Such dark markets still constitute a significant fraction of cryptocurrency transaction volume, and for them, anonymity is key. With that in mind—as well as common financial privacy concerns—the NAV team began developing an improved system called NAVTech, releasing the white paper at the end of September.